Language
They speak their own Hlai language, a member of the Tai–Kadai language family, but most can understand or speak Hainanese and Mandarin—and it is also common for Li people to learn and speak Cantonese because many Li in Hainan relocate to Cantonese-speaking areas in southern mainland China near Hainan such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
Read more about this topic: Li People
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“From a hasty glance through the various tests I figure it out that I would be classified in Group B, indicating “Low Average Ability,” reserved usually for those just learning to speak the English Language and preparing for a career of holding a spike while another man hits it.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Though language forms the preacher,
‘Tis “good works” make the man.”
—Eliza Cook (1818–1889)
“The great pines stand at a considerable distance from each other. Each tree grows alone, murmurs alone, thinks alone. They do not intrude upon each other. The Navajos are not much in the habit of giving or of asking help. Their language is not a communicative one, and they never attempt an interchange of personality in speech. Over their forests there is the same inexorable reserve. Each tree has its exalted power to bear.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)